The Canisius College men's basketball team starts the 2014 calendar year off by returning to MAAC play on Saturday when the Golden Griffins travel to play at Saint Peter's in Jersey City, N.J.

GRIFF-INFO • Canisius returns to conference play this afternoon when the Golden Griffins travel to play at Saint Peter’s in Jersey City, N.J.• The Griffs are coming off an 87-81 overtime loss at Notre Dame Dec. 29. Canisius restarts MAAC play having won five of its last seven games, dating back to the Dec. 6 win over Saint Peter’s at home.• The Griffs come into today’s game with an 8-5 overall record and a 2-0 mark in MAAC play. This marks the second-straight season and just the fifth time since 1989-90 where Canisius has opened league play with back-to-back conference victories. The Griffs have only won three-straight MAAC games to start a conference season one time previously (1994-95).

FAST BREAK POINTS • Canisius starts this game this afternoon having scored 80-plus points in three-straight games. The team is averaging 83.7 points per game in its last three contests.• Canisius senior Billy Baron was named the MAAC’s Co-Player of the Week on Monday by the league office after he matched a career-high with 33 points in the loss at Notre Dame. Baron also tallied six rebounds, a career-high six steals and five assists against the Irish.• Canisius had two players (Jordan Heath and Chris Manhertz) register double-doubles in the loss to Notre Dame. Prior to last Sunday, the last time Canisius had two players with double-doubles in the same contest was Feb. 12, 2010, when Frank Turner and Tomas Vasquez-Simmons each had a double-double effort in a win over Marist at home.

ABOUT THE PEACOCKS• Saint Peter’s comes into this afternoon’s game with a 4-8 overall record and an 0-3 mark in MAAC play after losing to Manhattan at home Thursday night by the score of 74-62.• Redshirt junior Marvin Dominique leads the Peacocks in scoring and rebounding average with 18.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. Dominique had 25 points and 10 boards when these two teams met in Buffalo Dec. 6.• Senior Desi Washington is chipping in 13.4 points per game for the Peacocks. As a team, Saint Peter’s is averaging 65.8 points per game, which ranks ninth in the conference.

CANISIUS - SAINT PETER’S SERIES• This will be the 71st all-time meeting between these two Jesuit schools, with Canisius holding a 39-31 lead in the series.• Canisius has won three straight over Saint Peter’s, including earlier this season when the Blue and Gold defeated the Peacocks 82-67 Dec. 6, in the Koessler Athletic Center.• Canisius is 18-14 all-time against Saint Peter’s in the Yanitelli Center, but the Peacocks have won four of the last six meetings between the two schools in Jersey City, N.J.